Immigration plan aids dairy, livestock farmers

Apr. 18, 2013

Written by

Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON — An immigration reform bill proposed in the U.S. Senate could be a boon to dairy and livestock operators who have grown increasingly dependent on undocumented workers to help run their businesses.

The immigration legislation proposed this week would put agricultural workers on a faster path to citizenship than other undocumented workers in the United States. It would replace the current H-2A program, viewed as difficult to use and criticized for establishing wages above those offered throughout the rest of rural America.

The biggest beneficiaries of the change to immigration in agriculture under the new bill would be dairy, cattle and swine farmers in states such as Iowa, as well as in California, Florida and other areas where undocumented workers are heavily used to harvest fruits and vegetables. Corn, soybean and wheat farmers do not depend as heavily on undocumented workers because much of their crops are harvested mechanically, reducing the need for human labor.

“It’s something that has to get addressed. It would leave a huge void here if all of a sudden these folks were gone,” said Kent Pruismann, who raises cattle and swine in Rock Valley in northwest Iowa. “I’m encouraged now that it finally looks like we’re going to get the job done.”

The new agreement would allow undocumented workers who have been employed no fewer than 100 days in agriculture for the past two years to get a so-called “blue card” that would give them legal status. After at least five more years, those workers who have paid their taxes and a $400 fee and not been convicted of a serious crime, could apply for permanent resident status.

The bill calls for guest worker visas to be issued throughout the entire year to ensure an adequate work force. In addition, a new method for establishing wages would be created across six categories, including equipment operators, livestock employees and crop workers.

In the United States, there are about 1.1 million hired workers for crops and livestock — with about half of them thought to be in the country illegally, according to one government estimate. The Agricultural Workforce Coalition puts the number at 1 million to 1.5 million, with 60 percent to 70 percent of them here illegally.

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Agriculture has long been dependent upon immigrants to fill crop picking and other duties that cannot be filled with American labor.

But not all were in favor of the plan. Paul Shubeck, a Beresford corn and soybean farmer, said he supported making it easier to bring in workers to help in agriculture when necessary but was opposed to a faster path toward citizenship. “We have certain laws that have certain requirements for citizenship, so I’d prefer to fall back on those” already in place, he said.

The immigration reform for farm labor was part of a larger, 844-page bill proposed by eight senators that allows the nation’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship and tightens security along the nation’s southwest border. After months of late-night negotiations, the bipartisan group of senators released their measure early Wednesday.

John Thune, R-S.D., said he still was looking over the bill but at first blush called it a “very thorough overhaul of immigration system.”

“There are an awful lot of people who fill jobs that it’s hard to get American citizens to fill, and so the ag sector of the economy is very interested in having a resolution to the immigration issue,” Thune said. “It’s very important to the ag economy nationally.”